


Those Among Us

by MelyndaR



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 12:05:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3249008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Reid puts himself in harms way, Emily comes to understand the true nature of her feelings towards him. Learning these feelings are reciprocated starts the duo down a dizzingly fast road to love, but can they keep it together - and keep it a secret from the rest of the team - come what may, especially when they find themselves in a particularly precarious situation or two?<br/>Nominated for Best Emily/Reid in the Profilers Choice Awards over on FanFiction!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter contains spoilers for 3x16 "Elephant's Memory."

April 16, 2008

West Bune, Texas

Emily Prentiss had always considered herself a very logical person. She could compartmentalize quite nearly better than anyone else she knew, and everyone knew that Spencer Reid was more logical than her by half, almost to the point that it was a fault of his. A cute fault, maybe, but still a sort of fault none the less. So even though he was obviously emotionally invested in this case centered around their teenage unsub, Owen Savage, Emily accompanied Reid to the Sheriff's Office when he said he thought that they would be able to find Owen there. And sure enough, the genius was right. There was Owen now, coming around a bend in the asphalt Main Street.

Reid saw him too, and what he did next was by no means logical, or even safe - or even sane, for that matter. This - this had to be one of the stupidest things she had ever seen a human being do.

He handed her his gun and headed out to meet an armed Owen in the middle of the street, saying, "Prentiss, cover me."

"What? Wait… Reid!"

Emily didn't like the hysteria in her own voice - though it was the least of her worries - as Reid looked back at her for a second and ordered as seriously as ever, "Do not shoot."

"Reid!" she repeated helplessly, just watching him go.

But he wasn't stopping, so she slipped into the shadows of the brick building that was the Sheriff's Office and held her gun at the ready, Reid's "do not shoot" already long forgotten. Momentary relief coursed through her as Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan pulled up in one of the team's black SUV's and climbed out, their own guns also already poised to shoot. Still she watched, too tense to even blink, her gaze was so riveted upon the duo in the street.

And then it was finally, finally over. Owen walked towards Reid and laid the gun in the space left between the agent-doctor's feet and his own. As soon as Owen stood up, Morgan and Hotch jogged towards him, their guns still in their hands.

"Don't move!" Morgan ordered sharply. Owen looked at him wildly for a second before he put his hands up in the air as Morgan repeated his order to stay still. In a few seconds, Owen was securely handcuffed with all of his weapons having been removed from his person and safely under Derek's watchful eyes. And still Reid kept a hand on the teenager at all times, trying to help him in some way.

Emily leaned back against the brick exterior wall, feeling herself nearly go limp as Morgan and Reid went inside the building with Owen between them. During the time that the rest of the team was inside the Sheriff's Office with Owen and his girlfriend, Emily remained outdoors, trying to gather her wits back around her and quite literally catch her breath, not to mention calm down.

As quickly as her terror had turned to relief, it had turned from relief to an unusual amount of anger. Yeah, she understood what he had done, and she pretty much understood why, but still…

"What the freaking h***, Spencer Reid!" she seethed absentmindedly under her breath as she paced back and forth on the sidewalk.

Judging simply by the look that Hotch had given the team's youngest agent, Reid had it coming from their unit chief, but Emily was building up quite a few words that she wanted to say to him as well. The idiotic genius could have gotten himself killed, for pity's sake, and he full well knew it too. Did he just not  _care_?!

But then… She stopped dead in her pacing when the thought hit her for the first time - why was it that she cared so much? Yes, Reid was like family to her - so was every other member of the team - but this didn't feel the same for some reason. Heaven knew Morgan had done stupid things on the job before, and, yeah, sure she had been mad at him for doing those things - for purposely putting himself in harm's way - but this - the fact that it was Reid who had almost died  _yet again_ felt different… worse somehow.

The anger drained out of Emily, replaced by a mystification at her own swirling emotions. She looked at the cement under her feet and took a deep breath, forcing herself to rationalize, compartmentalize. That way she was in control of her own world again.

Rationally speaking, this excessively emotional response could easily have stemmed simply from being the only one to have seen the whole standoff go down from start to finish, from having been the one to let Reid walk into the danger zone. Surely that was it.

 _Yeah_ , Emily literally nodded her head, trying to put the matter to rest in her own mind.  _That has to be all that there is to it._

Within the next minute, the other members of the BAU team made their way out of the Sheriff's Office, half of them already in various stages of getting ready to head back home to Washington D.C. Rossi was calling Section Chief Strauss, telling them that they had wrapped the case up. Hotch was calling Haley, asking if he could stop by to see Jack for a few minutes. And JJ, sweet, unsuspecting JJ whose expectations of her coworkers must've been remarkably low, had her head bent over her phone as she shot off a quick text to New Orleans detective, Will LaMontagne - not that JJ thought any of her coworkers knew who she was texting, of course. That was a supposed secret. Reid wasn't doing anything in particular, just heading quickly towards the SUVs and trying to keep a low profile while avoiding the angry-because-they-cared-about-him-and-their-jobs glares of his coworkers.

 _Poor guy looks miserable_ , Emily observed silently from across the street. She shook her head free of any sympathy for him and purposely tacked on the thought,  _And it serves him right!_

But still, in the past half hour something in her had switched gears when it came to Spencer Reid, and she wasn't entirely sure what sort of a change it was, let alone how she felt about it. Experience said that it would probably be best to just sleep on whatever it was, that it would most likely all be gone and back to normal in the morning after a good night's sleep.

But for some reason, her intuition was telling her a different - and rather disturbing - story.

Oh well, she knew how to handle that. Emily sighed one last time, shoved the thoughts roughly away into one of her mind's filing cabinets to think about later, and then walked across the street, seating herself in the middle row beside Morgan for the ride home - a ride that Emily had a feeling was going to be depressingly quiet and tense, thanks to today's hair-brained actions of their resident genius.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightest spoilers for episode 3x17 "In Heat" and the movie "The Vow."

Late that night, Spencer Reid turned the lock on his apartment door and stepped inside, gratefully dropping his satchel onto the floor. He kicked off his shoes and made his way to his bedroom before making a beeline for the shower. Fifteen minutes later, he was already sacked out in bed.

It was days like these, with actions like those that he had taken earlier, that left him completely drained. Now that he was finally in his comfortable bed in his own home, though, sleep was evading him. Something about the showdown with Owen was bothering him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. So he laid in bed and played the scene out in his mind over and over again until it hit him what it was.

That moment with Emily before he'd gone out into the street. When he'd handed her his gun and she had realized what he was going to do. She had been utterly terrified for him, and not just the sort of terror that she had displayed before when one of their other team members had done something dumb.

In his mind's eye, he once again saw the horror in her chocolate brown orbs and heard the desperation in her voice as she had called his name. That wasn't normal for her. She had enough confidence in her own capabilities that at any other time she would have been okay, knowing that she could shoot the unsub if necessary.

So what had elicited the reaction that he had gotten? Was it simply because it was… him? And if so why? Was it just because he was considered the baby of the family, or was it something more?

Dare he hope so?

The final question crossed his mind quite without his permission, but it was an honest one. Although he thought that he hid it well, he'd had a "crush" on Emily for awhile - ever since he'd figured out that JJ was seeing someone else, oddly enough. For awhile he had considered it as being simply a weird rebound sort of thing, but after a year, it hadn't gone away. If anything his feelings for Emily Prentiss had intensified.

Not that he was going to tell her that, of course. He nestled back into the covers, determined to get some sleep. He would just have to wait and see where this went, if there even was anything going on.

* * *

The next morning, Emily tried hard to keep her distance from Reid, hoping that whatever was going on in her head would just go away and not come back given a little time. But it didn't. He still set her emotions into this weird tizzy, and she didn't like it. So she spent her entire day just trying to stay away from him and hoping that no one actually noticed that she was avoiding him. Of course, if they did notice, they could obviously chock it up to her still being mad at him about yesterday's escapade with Owen, but that really wasn't even a part of her motives.

Later that evening, she was glad to finally step back into her nice, quiet, solitary-occupant apartment and let her guard down. For supper, she settled down on the living room couch with a microwave meal, a bottle of wine, and a chic flick. It was time to do some serious relaxing, but more importantly it was time to reopen that file in her mind that she had created yesterday and finally figure out what was going on in her head where Reid was concerned.

It was in the middle of Chattum Tanning trying to woo his resistant, amnesia-stricken wife that Emily realized that she too was resisting the obvious facts. She was in love with Spencer Reid.

She was  _in love with Spencer Reid_!

She slammed her wine glass down on the coffee table with a clatter, eyes widening as the truth really hit home.

No. No! Absolutely not!  _Not_ acceptable!

But true.

"Oh, h***," Emily breathed, sinking back into her couch.

It was true. She was in love with Spencer Reid! Of all the people in the whole freaking world and her heart decided to set itself on Spencer Reid.

Frack.

Emily took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down and rationalize this realization, think back to see if she could pinpoint a time during which these emotions might have began. She couldn't, not really. Maybe the Henkel case? She groaned and put her head in her hands as it hit her. The day that they met was more like it.

And what was worse, something told her that this love wouldn't be going away, not even if she slept on it for the next twenty years straight.

So she would just have to learn how to ignore it, or at least hide it when she was around the rest of the team, which was basically all the time. She sighed heavily once more and heaved herself off of the couch and headed towards her medicine cabinet in search of an aspirin… or two… or right now it might just take the whole d*** bottle for that matter.

But even with aspirin, Emily knew that none of this was going to go away.

She opened the medicine cabinet anyway. Man, was she ever going to need a major distraction.

And thankfully that came the next day in the form of a case in Miami.

"Hey, guys, we've got a case," JJ was practically bouncing on her tiptoes as she emerged from Hotch's office and looked down at the team members whose desks were in the bullpen.

As JJ rushed towards the conference room ahead of the others, Morgan remarked, "Well, someone's perky today."

"I believe that there's a certain detective involved in the case," Hotch told them after checking to make sure that JJ wasn't watching.

The team members shared smiles and knowing glances before they all followed Hotch into the conference room. This promised to be interesting... and more than likely just the distraction that Emily needed.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Further spoilers for episode 3x17 "In Heat."

Okay, so maybe Emily had been trying just a little too hard to get JJ to admit to her relationship with Will while they were on this case in Miami, but she did have good reasons. One: bugging JJ really had been something of a distraction, and a good and needed one at that, plus it was for a good cause. Two: someone in this team needed to experience a happy ending when it came to the romantic side of their lives. Really: look at Rossi, married three times and divorced just as many. And Hotch's marriage to Haley had just officially ended. Someone needed to be happy here, and JJ currently seemed like the best candidate for that.

After all, over the course of this past extremely weird, emotionally crazy, painful week, Emily had come to the awful conclusion that the man that she had come to love didn't love her back. Reid was too rational for that; he loved and emotionally needed his job too much to tangle with the brass and their fraternization rules even if he did love her that way, which she was certain that he didn't.

But when it came down to it, it still kind of hurt a lot as she watched JJ and Will share a heated kiss in the police station.

Morgan and Reid came up to stand beside her.

Seeing Will and JJ, Morgan smiled, "Well, finally."

"Mm," Emily started walking away. "I thought she was never going to admit it."

The boys turned and followed her as Reid asked, "Yeah, what's it been, like a year?"

"Yeah, something like that," Morgan answered.

As Morgan and Reid headed in the direction of going to clear the team's things out of the area that they had been given to run their investigation, something inside Emily snapped. This hurt that she had been hiding for the past week was going to kill her if she had to deal with it any longer at all. Maybe she should wait a little longer, maybe she should never say anything at all, but suddenly she knew that she could not.

No matter what, she had to talk to Reid about what was going on inside her head - in her heart.

"Hey, Reid, hold on a second."

* * *

Morgan kept right on walking towards their corner in the police station, but the urgency in Emily's voice gave Spencer pause, and he turned back to look at her.

"Yeah?"

Emily suddenly began to fidget, "Can we talk? Privately?"

"About what?" he asked, his eyebrows drawing together while he tried to figure out what might be making her so serious and uncertain.

For her, this demeanor was so unusual.

She shrugged minutely, cluing him into the fact that she didn't want to talk about it where they currently were.

"Let's go outside," he suggested, still confused by the odd way that she was acting.

She nodded and darted out into the warm Florida air. As he leaned against the side of the building, she took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm her nerves. She looked like she was coming unraveled though.

"Emily?" he queried. Whatever was going on, she was going to have to start this conversation.

She stood in front of him, but was turned halfway away from him, looking up at the sky as if it held all the answers to all of her questions. Her first statement and the bluntness of it startled him.

"You scared the freaking c*** out of me in Oregon, Reid."

His gaze shifted away from her. He had thought that the team was done beating him up about that.

Not knowing what else to say, he murmured, "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry."

"Reid, I…"

He thought that he heard her voice crack and he saw her lose her nerve. Whatever she was going to say died on her tongue.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, pointing out, "I know I scared everyone; that was pretty much understood." He narrowed his eyes, asking "So what's actually bothering you?"

She sighed and her gaze fell from the sky to the ground without a word.

"Emily?"

Unshed tears nearly drowned her every syllable as she confessed, "I thought that he was going to kill you, Spencer."

He was at a loss for words for a long moment as he pondered her words and the fact that she was being so emotional. Emily Prentiss did not cry. Something much more was going on here inside her mind.

"That's a possibility every day, Emily, you know that." And then the thought came to him and he couldn't help but voice it. Taking a step closer to her, he asked carefully, very carefully, "Is this about what happened with Tobias? What you saw then?"

"Gosh, Reid, no," she answered instantly, but then she paused a split second, looked across her field of vision at the scenery without seeing it, and really considered the question. "Yes? No? No," she finally decided. "No, it's not."

"Then what?"

"It's just… it's just that…" She finally looked him in the eye, "I love you, Spencer Reid."

His eyes widened, his heart raced, and time stopped. "What?" he whispered.

Her voice was low, her brown eyes pleading as she repeated carefully, "I love you… and I know it's stupid, and pointless, and nothing can ever come of it, and I totally just ruined everything between us, but I needed you to know. And I'm sorry."

Still stunned, Spencer blinked, and then, as his coherency started returning to him, he began to shake his head, slowly at first, but then wildly.

"Don't be," he ordered. "Oh, Emily, don't be sorry…" And then he laughed.

It was a wild, crazy laugh, the likes of which he'd often heard from his mother, but he was too overwhelmed to care about the apt comparison. It left Emily looking at him as if he'd lost not only his good senses, but also his very sanity.

"I'm sorry?" Emily repeated, but this time she was simply confused and asking him for clarification.

Emily had been blunt, so Spencer decided to return in kind, asking, "Do you have any idea how long I've loved you?"

Her mouth dropped open and the expression was so unusual for her and struck him in such a way that his already heightened giddiness spiked. He burst out laughing again, the stress relief of having finally told her his feelings making him feel nearly lightheaded.

He took the last few steps towards her and embraced her tightly. The shock of him willingly touching her like that along with the shock of everything else left her momentarily rigid, but then she returned his embrace, burying her head in his shoulder. And then, though by now neither one of them knew why, she too burst into peals of laughter.

In the next moment though, the laughter died instantly as he tipped her chin up towards him and kissed her.

He was left quite sure that Will and JJ had  _nothing_  on this.


	4. Chapter 4

Emily didn't say anything to Spencer on the jet ride home. She couldn't, or at least she was afraid to. She was terrified that anything that they said to one another might clue the team in on the revelation that had taken place only mere hours before. And right now she just couldn't risk that happening, not when all of these emotions were still so startling and new to her. And besides, this was the time for the team to straighten JJ and Will out, not her and Reid.

So she kept quiet.

And by the time that June rolled around, she and Spencer were still keeping their relationship entirely under wraps, despite the increasingly serious nature of it.

But on the evening of June twenty-sixth, after coming home from a case earlier in the day, she and Spencer were enjoying an entirely unserious evening at her apartment– or at least she thought that it was going to be just a fun, relaxing evening for only the two of them.

Emily came back into the living room after having taken their supper dishes into the kitchen to be dealt with later. "For you."

She smiled, handing her boyfriend of almost two months a mug of coffee – or, in all honesty, coffee-flavored sugar – as the credits rolled for Amy Adams' movie, "Leap Year."

"Mm… thanks. Just how I like it." Spencer took a sip from the mug and then set it down on the coffee table before drawing Emily into his lap.

Emily smiled, cradling her own coffee mug, "Mm… just whereI like to be."

She could feel Spencer smile at her comment as he kissed her neck.

"Spencer Reid, I cannot show up at work tomorrow with a hickey," she warned. "If I do, no one will leave me alone about it, and then I'll have to shoot them all, and that would be very unfortunate because then I would go to jail and we would have to be apart all the time."

"I would visit you," Spencer informed her.

He kissed her again, trying to draw her in.

"No, Spencer," she said resolutely, as much to herself as to him. "Strauss has scheduled us a long weekend starting on the fourth of July and we can do whatever we want to then, but I don't want the team finding out somehow before we get that weekend alone. I couldn't handle it if we had to spend that long weekend – the one that's supposed to be a mini vacation – trying to field their billions of questions and get them to leave us alone."

Spencer sighed, and she knew that she'd won this round. Pity. She kind of wished that she hadn't.

"Do you know what I really want to do?" Spencer asked suddenly.

Emily smirked as she laid her head back on his shoulder and asked, "What?"

"Emily Prentiss, I want to marry you."

Emily sprung up out of Spencer's lap so fast he might have been a hot stovetop instead of a living man and whirled to face him. "What did you just say?"

Spencer stood to his feet and took her hand, repeating softly, "I want us to get married, Em."

"Married?" Emily whispered. "As in man and wife?"

Spencer nodded slowly; trying not to smile at what she knew must have been a very interesting expression on her face. "For the rest of our lives. Forever and ever, until death do we part."

"When? Now?"

"Not now; we don't have a marriage license. But as soon as possible. I mean, as we are, it's not like we're going to have a huge crowd to cater to at a big, white wedding. We could register for a marriage license tomorrow after work, and that would end up with us getting the license on the fourth. If we get married then…" Spencer smiled. "That would make for quite the vacation from work."

"Yeah, but what about  _after_ the wedding? The team? Strauss?"

After the wedding, we can keep going on like we are now – like nothing has changed. I can move in here, but if we both drive our separate cars to work, no one will know any different. The team won't know anything, and if they do find something out, they'll know to keep their mouths shut or risk us getting fired. Which we won't because Strauss, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, has a past with Rossi. If worst comes to worst, we can blackmail her into silence."

Emily groaned loudly. "Oh, geez… Spencer, this is a bad idea… What have we even gotten ourselves into?"

Spencer grinned, gesturing at the "Leap Frog" DVD container on the coffee table. "True love?"

Emily laughed. She couldn't help it. He could be so… weird sometimes! And she absolutely loved that about him. Gosh, she just loved him period, even with all of his many quirks.

"Let me put it this way:" Spencer said, "Has hiding our relationship from everyone been worth it so far?"

"Of course it has," she didn't even have to think about her answer. "But… living together – marriage? That's going to be a lot more work to hide."

"Exactly. But don't you think it'll be worth all of the extra benefits that we'll get? I know I do, and I've given this a lot of thought, Em."

"How?" she asked incredulously. "We haven't even been dating for two months!"

He smiled endearingly. "Yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean that I've been in love with you for only two months."

Emily felt a smile begin to stretch across her face. "Spencer?"

"Hm?" he asked, eyebrows rising.

"We're crazy, you know that, right?"

He nodded, smile still firmly in place. "Yeah, I do. I'm a genius, remember?"

"Spencer?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Let's get married."

Spencer laughed, pulling her close. "You know what? I think that's a wonderful idea."

"I thought that you might say that."

And she kissed him, recklessly deciding that hickeys could just go play in the DC traffic.


	5. Chapter 5

Luckily, any hickey crises were somehow avoided and Emily and Spencer went about their jobs the following day as they had been going about it for practically forever come rain or come sunshine - as if nothing in the world was wrong. And at least in this case, nothing was wrong, it was just that something had changed.

They had just started dating. And couldn't tell the team. No big deal, right?

The fact that they couldn't tell the team gave them no trouble as they left the building after their work day was over. It felt like was all too easy, way to easy. But it wasn't like Spencer and Emily were going to complain about their lives being easy for once. It just left Emily feeling like something was eventually going to go wrong, and when something did, it was probably going to be worse then the team finding out about her suddenly flourishing love life.

But she shrugged the feeling off as she followed Spencer's car in her own towards getting their marriage license. Better to leave the things of tomorrow for itself rather than to go off borrowing trouble.

* * *

Whenever the BAU's top team was guaranteed a vacation, Spencer Reid - like any normal human being - found himself anxiously awaiting the day that the promised vacation began. But this - this was inhuman torture, and believe him, he considered himself an expert of sorts on numerous levels when it came to that particular subject.

Although it had long ago started to seem like the day would never actually get around to arriving, July third did eventually roll around after what had most definitely been one of the longest weeks of his life.

But, unfortunately, that didn't mean that he and Emily could just easily rush out of the BAU bullpen as soon as the work day was over. No… the team had to make plans to see each other over vacation as well. Now, since neither Spencer not Emily really had any biological family in the area, they were both usually all about this idea, but this time they both just wanted to get away from the team and spend some real, quality time as a couple. It shouldn't have been a tall order, but it was, and they both knew it. That didn't make it any easier to keep from arousing the team's suspicions, though.

"Hey, Pretty Boy, what are your plans for this wonderful vacation of ours?" Morgan asked as the team members all finished gathering their things together so that they could leave work behind for a few days.

Morgan had no reason to believe that Spencer was lying to him, so the genius figured it would be safe to look away from the African-American when he lied, "I'm going home."

"You're going to spend your entire vacation in that library of an apartment of yours?"

"No, I'm going back to Vegas to see my mom."

He hated Morgan for making him repeat the lie, but he covered for himself by picking up a few files from his desk and shoving them into his satchel. It didn't really matter right now that there was no chance that Emily was going to let him actually complete the work in them. After all, the two of them certainly had… other things planned for their vacation time.

"All right, that's cool." Morgan finally allowed, letting him off of the hook. "There's no place like home for the holidays."

Spencer raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? The Fourth is a holiday too, you know."

"Of course I know that, but it's not  _the holidays_. That's Christmas."

"What am I saying!" Morgan rolled his eyes. "Of course you know that, Boy Genius. Point is, there's no place like home at any time."

Spencer's life experiences led him to want to disagree, but he didn't. He didn't want to chance blowing his lie. He just nodded one final time and shot out of the bullpen.

Morgan called after him, "Play a couple of slots for me, okay, Kid?"

* * *

Emily watched from in front of JJ's office as Spencer dodged Morgan's questions before fleeing from the building. She needed to hurry; he would be waiting for her at the courthouse if she didn't get a move on. So she turned to descend the staircase, but was stopped by JJ.

"So, what are you going to be doing?"

"Um… I'm not sure yet," Emily lied.

_D***it, Emily! You know you should've thought of something to tell them!_

"Oh." JJ looked surprised, and Emily knew that it was because everyone else on their team had been planning their to-do lists for this vacation for awhile.

And – inspired by her boyfriend's excuse – that was when Emily heard herself say, "But I've been thinking about going to visit my mother."

Hotch walked up then, eyebrows raised. Apparently he had heard her comment, because he asked, "Last I heard, your mother was working in the Ukraine. Is she still there?"

The sad thing was Emily didn't even know where her mother was, and the chance that Hotch might bother to check up on whatever she said were slim to none. Add in the fact that Emily was pretty sure that Hotch knew she would never, ever spend all that money on a plane ticket to go see the parent that she barely even liked, and Emily knew that she had to make this sound a little easier for her.

"No, she's in, ah, Boston right now for a few days, so I thought that I'd go touch base with her."

"You're going to surprise her?" JJ grinned. "That's so sweet of you! Well, I hope you have fun while you're there. I am out of here!"

Hotch was looking at her strangely now. He knew for a fact that never in a million years would she go out of her way to give her mother a happy surprise, let alone have that surprise be her daughter's very presence. Something told Emily that she was going to get busted by her boss within the hour.

"Have a nice week, Prentiss," Hotch said before slipping down the staircase.

Emily had to force levity into her tone when she replied, "Thanks; you too, Hotch."

He was going to find out. She wasn't sure how, exactly, but one way or the other, Aaron Hotchner was going to find out that she was due to get married later today.

Emily turned on her heel and raced to escape from the building.


	6. Chapter 6

Aaron Hotchner hurried down the hallway at a brisk clip, hoping to catch Penelope before she left, if she hadn't already. He knocked on her "lair" door and was relieved to hear her call out, "Enter if you dare!"

He entered, asking, "Penelope, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Whatever you need, oh boss man."

"Can you find out where Ambassador Prentiss is at right now?"

"All right…" Penelope whirled to face her computers when she realized that he wasn't going to elaborate on the reasons behind his request. "Sure. Give me a sec here. She's in the Ukraine."

"All right; that's what I thought. Thank you, Garcia."

He left before she could ask any questions, because if he was right… well, he cared for her as much as he did any of the other members of his team, but she just would not be a person capable of keeping that sort of secret. Personally, though, he wanted to know why Emily had lied. Unfortunately, when he returned to the bullpen she was already gone.

That was fine; he could just call her into his office to discuss it once they came back to work Monday.

* * *

"Do you really think that we can keep the wool over their eyes?" Spencer asked, tying his tie and looking at his new wife's reflection in the mirror as he did so.

Emily turned around and met his eyes in the mirror, answering, "For a little while, maybe."

"But not long?"

"But not long, no. They're profilers. We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we signed that marriage certificate, Spencer. When the team finds out, I'd like to think that we'll be ready for them. I mean, come on, we're profilers too; we'll probably see it coming before they confront us."

Spencer nearly whimpered as he said, "I don't like confrontation."

"I know, sweetheart," Emily sighed, coming up and wrapping her arms around his waist. He turned around and held her close as she added, "I don't either, but we both know it'll happen eventually."

"I know," Spencer resigned himself to the facts then and there.

This was the decision that he had made and the time would come when he would have to pay for that decision. But it would still be worth it even then – even if he did get fired – because of this right here. He had Emily in embrace, and not only was she the same old Emily, but she was his wife now, and that was worth anything in the world to him.

With one final, deep sigh, Emily pulled away from him saying, "Come on; we need to get to work. Are you going to leave now and I wait a few minutes or vice versa? We can't show up at the same time after having not contacted them all week or else they'll get suspicious."

"If Hotch isn't suspicious already," Spencer added.

Emily nodded. "Yeah…"

"Hey," Spencer tilted her chin up so that she had to look him in the eyes. "We'll be fine, okay?"

"Okay," she whispered.

He smiled at her and requested, "Smile, beautiful."

For him, she did. It was a shaky, unconvincing smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

He kissed her quickly then grabbed his keys, saying, "I'll leave first."

Emily nodded and he hurried out of her apartment – it was  _their_  apartment now – and out to his car. After turning the key in the ignition, he couldn't help but stop to finger his wedding ring. Since he didn't dare to even consider wearing it on his ring finger, it was hanging on his keychain. Because, really, who paid any attention to another man's key chain?

* * *

When Hotch saw Reid enter the bullpen, he started heading down to the ground level of his team's workspace. Where Reid had been, Emily hadn't been very far behind for the past five or six weeks, and he really wanted to catch her before their day got started. He already knew that JJ had a case for them once they had all arrived, and Emily was apparently going to be the last one to do so. Miraculously, she didn't appear to be anywhere near Reid.

Huh. He would have almost smirked had he not been aggravated at this inconvenient turn of events. There was apparently a bad time to break what was at best an interesting habit, and of course Prentiss had chosen it.

Oh well – at least for now. He would get to the bottom of her strange lie yesterday and more importantly the reason behind it as soon as possible. Maybe he should corner her while they were away on the case, if that's what it came down to in order for him to get the answers that he felt he needed.

As it was, Hotch decided to go see if Reid knew anything about it by chance, since he and Prentiss had recently gotten so close. Per what was starting to seem predictable this morning, his youngest agent was also suddenly nowhere to be found when Hotch approached the other man's desk. Deciding to wait until Reid re-appeared or Prentiss came in, Hotch sat down in Reid's desk chair with a quiet sigh.

Bored, he glanced around the young doctor's desk to see what he could see. He almost smiled despite himself when he noticed the ratio of files on Reid's desk to the number of files on the desks of the others, particularly Morgan's. Maybe he should talk to Garcia's "chocolate god of thunder" about that ever so perplexing coincidence? No reason to, really, he decided; they all knew that Reid didn't really mind it any.

Hotch shook his head to himself. The fact that Reid didn't mind all of the extra work just highlighted how much he needed to get out more. It had taken Haley's leaving for Hotch to figure that out, but he understood it now.

It was while he was thinking about how he might help Reid become more social that he absently picked up the genius's keys and began to twirl them by swinging the key ring around his finger.

And then he realized that the baby of the BAU family must have had a more healthy social life then the recently divorced man had himself, because what Hotch was twirling on his finger - half wearing - was not a simple, only-Reid-would-know-what-kind-of-metal  _key_  ring, but a golden  _wedding_  ring.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight spoiler at the end for 4x03 "Minimal Loss."

As a general rule, Aaron Hotchner didn't have trouble keeping his emotions from seeping through to the point that others could see them, but he had a feeling that if anyone had been paying any particular attention to him right then, they would've noticed that something was amiss. He had to be as white as a sheet.

"Hotch?" JJ approached him cautiously, looking at him in concern. "Are you alright? Are you feeling sick?"

"No," he stood up faster than was probably wise, and dropped the keys down into the seat without JJ noticing them. "I'm fine."

"Alright," she replied, slow to be convinced. "Well, Emily just got here, so everybody's up in the conference room."

Hotch nodded and led the press liaison to the round table. It was time to put whatever was going on in the personal lives of Prentiss and Reid behind him at least for now and get to work.

After a long, hard week of hunting down a serial killer in Maine, though, Hotch was ready to get this thing with Reid sorted out, Prentiss's lie having been forgotten next to the enormity of the secret Reid was keeping.

On the jet ride home, Hotch was heading to a seat at the back of the jet across from Rossi. He inconspicuously surveyed his team as he went, his action something like those of a father checking in on his children once they've went to bed. Although all appeared to be going as it normally did on these homeward bound rides – JJ was going over case files, Derek was listening to his headphones, Reid was reading, Dave was writing out his report of the case – Emily caught his eye.

Or more accurately, the necklace that she was wearing caught his eye. He hadn't noticed it before now – and he knew for a fact that he would've noticed it before now had he been able to. Maybe she had been keeping it tucked under her blouse? She would've had to have been, unless she had just recently put it on, and that wasn't a likely possibility since she had gone to sleep right after getting on the jet, and was still sleeping even now. Regardless, he was quite certain that the charm on the end of that chain wasn't a charm at all, but rather a wedding ring.

_Another wedding ring!_

His exhausted mind didn't put the two together instantaneously. Only in the second after the thought crossed his mind did that happen, and when it did, it took all of his powers of self-control not to shake her into wakefulness right where they were in the crowded jet, surrounded by the team and demand answers. Or rip the book out of Reid's hands and demand answers. Or do both.

As tempting a thought as it was, Hotch did neither.

Instead he went over to Reid and leaned down to whisper in his ear, "That's a nice necklace that Emily's wearing. It looks important; she might want to keep it hidden."

Reid's head snapped up and his hazel eyes widened with horror as he looked at his boss.

Before Reid could say anything, Hotch added, "And I like the new addition to your key chain."

Frozen with shock and horror, it was took a second before Reid could manage to ask in a hoarse whisper, "You like it? I mean…" For a second, he looked like he was going to try and deny that he knew what Hotch was talking about, but then he realized who he was talking about and said, "You don't mind?"

"If it starts to interfere with your safety on the job, I'll have to talk to someone about it, but if that doesn't happen, then your secret's safe with me."

His eyes begged Hotch as Reid asked, "And you won't tell the team?"

"Not my place."

Reid almost collapsed with relief as he whispered, "Thanks, Hotch."

Hotch nodded and went to sit in his original destination across from Dave.

The older profiler glanced up from his report, and something in Hotch's face must've given him away.

Before Dave could say anything, Hotch shrugged him off with an "It's been a long week."

Dave nodded in understanding, accepting the unit chief's explanation, and lowered his gaze back to his file. Hotch leaned back against seat and closed his eyes, trying his hardest to drift off to sleep.

* * *

"He what!?"

Emily should have cared that she was being so loud. She should have cared that she was being so loud and so overly-emotional that poor Spencer was flinching away from her. She should've known that there was nothing that her husband could've done to stop Hotch from figuring out how things were between her and Spencer – although Spencer really  _could've_ kept his keys on his person, but he hadn't so that didn't matter. She couldn't let it matter. Hotch knew now. It was done.  _They_ were done.

"What's he going to do?" she asked in a much smaller tone.

Spencer stared ahead at the road as he drove them home from Quantico after landing from the jet ride home, answering, "He said so long as it doesn't affect our conduct on the job, he won't do anything."

"And you believe him?" Emily inquired, still nervous about the whole situation.

Spencer nodded. "I do. To my knowledge, he's always kept his word to the team before, so why not this time?" He reached for her hand across the console and she took it gratefully. "Hotch will keep his word, Emily, we both know that he will."

And he did. No one else on the team found out. For months he kept their secret from the other members of their BAU family. Even when everything started going to h*** in October, he still didn't breath a word about their being married.

For this Reid and Emily were both very grateful, especially when October eighth became such an extremely bad day for the newlywed pair of FBI agents.

Truthfully, though, Emily was more startled by what she had learned on the first day of October then by anything that she and Spencer would go through in Benjamin Cyrus' compound.

After all, psychos would always be psychos… but the news that the doctor gave to her on the first - fact that she was pregnant, hence going to have a baby? That sure seemed like more of a wildcard to her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for 4x03, "Minimal Loss" from here on out. Any recognizable scenes, dialogue, characters, etc. from the show aren't mine, unfortunately.

October 6, 2008

La Plata County, Colorado

Emily had had a few days to think about this new turn of events – about the fact that she was pregnant – and she had adjusted her attitude on some things. Heaven knew that she was well aware of the physical and emotional tolls it took on a woman who got an abortion, and so she had decided that wouldn't be an option for her – at least not this time around. Unless of course, for some reason, Spencer absolutely demanded it of her when she finally got around to telling him that she was pregnant. Not that he would. She kept telling herself this, but still she had put off telling him, afraid – almost desperately so – of everything that the presence of her pregnancy would bring.

She sighed imperceptibly to herself on the car ride to Benjamin Cyrus' compound where the two of them and another woman named Nancy Lunde – who had not been informed of hers and Spencer's marriage, since it was always safer for all concerned that way – would be investigating an inside report of child abuse going on inside the compound.

She and Spencer would have to tell the team about their marriage sooner than they had anticipated doing so, probably much sooner. One or both of them might very well get fired, since when she told Spencer, Emily had a feeling that there was going to be no way that the news wouldn't affect his performance on the job. The one stipulation that Hotch had laid out for the two of them and a baby was all that it was going to take to break it.

She felt Spencer eyeing her from the back seat.

He probably sensed that something was wrong with her – heck; he had probably known that she was hiding something from him since the day that she got the news about the pregnancy. The whole team had probably figured out that something was going on with her, and she only hoped that they didn't have the vaguest clue as to what it actually was. Emily was keenly aware of the fact that JJ, profiler though she was not – at least she didn't have the actual training as a profiler, although she might as well have had – was in a very good position to take a guess at what was going on, since the media liaison herself was in the family way. And Hotch, poor Hotch, probably thought that she and Spencer were having marital issues already. Although… maybe not, since he had personally been through some very severe marital issues recently and thus was well aware of what they looked like. She had a feeling that Hotch had assigned this undercover case to her and Spencer in hopes of getting them to resolve whatever might be going on between them. That was going to be hard to do, though, since Emily's poor husband didn't even know what the issue was, let alone how to resolve it.

Spencer was continuing to watch her out of the corner of his eye, she could still tell. She turned around from the shotgun seat of the car and smiled at him, hoping to wordlessly reassure him that she was all right.

After all, this was a reasonably low risk case. If all went according to plan, they would be out of here by the end of the day being no worse for the wear, and having spent the day together out from under the team's eye, even if they did still have to maintain a professional air to keep their cover up.

That thought must have crossed Spencer's mind, because he leaned forward and went into the matter at hand, holding the case file between Emily and Nancy as he requested, "Tell us about the 911 call?"

Emily listened intently and occasionally joined in the conversation as they discussed the so called "church" leader, Benjamin Cyrus. He sounded like a joy to be around – polygamy, forced marriages, underage sex – all those wonderful things, plus who knew what more. She wasn't sure whether guys like him were better or worse than serial killers. At least murder victims didn't have to live with the horror and memories of what had been done to them.

Driving into the compound gave Emily an eerie feeling, especially when she spotted a young girl walking across the dusty compound. She seemed to be headed in the direction of the schoolhouse, which made sense for a Monday morning. To look at her, though, almost made Emily hurt. Instead of being cheerful, naïve to the cruelties of life, and flanked by at least one best friend like most girls her age, this poor girl just looked tired and old. She walked with her head down as if she was ashamed of her very being – or maybe of what someone, presumably her church leader, had done to her?

The thought made Emily's stomach churn as she climbed out of the car.

It took her a whole sixty seconds to form a preliminary opinion of Benjamin Cyrus, and that opinion was this: He was a very convincing fraud, and put quite simply, a very deluded, mentally sick man, but to the untrained and unwary eye he came across as charismatic just the same.

After talking with Cyrus for a minute, Emily and Nancy both headed towards the schoolhouse, but Spencer lagged behind for another moment longer, and Emily head him begin to talk to Cyrus about solar panels. As much as Emily still didn't quite like the thought, she knew that Spencer was starting to try and develop some sort of a trust between himself and the church leader, something that might later help Spencer get information from the other man that could potentially help them with their investigation.

"You're using solar power?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, we're completely self sufficient. Electricity, food, water. Ben Franklin said God helps those that help themselves. You look surprised."

"No, uh, impressed, actually."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For admitting that."

Okay, Spencer was right. Emily would admit that the setup that Benjamin Cyrus had here was very impressive, but that didn't mean that he wasn't capable of the things in the allegation. After all, she was here to get to the bottom of this, and in working with Spencer and Nancy, she intended to do just that.


	9. Chapter 9

Things started to get weirder the moment that she, Spencer, and Nancy Lunde were informed by the fifteen year old girl that Nancy thought had made the call, Jessica Evanson, that she was Benjamin Cyrus' wife. As a newlywed woman who knew what a real and at least reasonably healthy marriage relationship looked like, Emily couldn't help but be appalled on quite a few levels, although she managed to keep her thoughts from coming out on her face. At least the girl's mother, Kathy, seemed to know that marrying so young was unusual; she had carefully tried to hush her daughter before she could reveal this information to Emily and Spencer but she'd failed.

"Is it 'inappropriate' for a  _husband_ to share a bed with his  _wife_?" Jessica asked Emily sharply.

Emily, who was sitting at Jessica's eye level, ignored the confused look that passed over her own husband's expression as she clarified, "You're married to Cyrus?"

Jessica smiled, "Yes. Cyrus is my husband and a prophet. " Jessica, "Jessie," ended her defense of Cyrus by saying very matter-of-factly, "It's an honor to bear his children."

The teenager was obviously amazing devoted to her husband, if Emily could even bear to use that word. But as someone who had been pregnant at fifteen, Emily hugely disagreed; it wasn't an honor to bear  _anyone's_ children at that age!

Spencer probably sensed that she was about to say something to the girl that she ought not, so he broke into the conversation before Emily could respond, saying, "Jessica, you're fifteen years old; the, uh, state of Colorado requires parental consent."

Emily noticed that Kathy instantly looked away and down at the floor. She knew that what she had done wasn't right, but she had done it anyway.

"She gave consent," Emily informed Spencer.

And then the door to the classroom was flung open and in came two armed men, demanding, "Get up, get up!"

"Come on, you heard the man."

"Stand!"

"What's going on?" Nancy asked as every occupant in the room – mostly children – rose to their feet.

"I just got a very strange phone call from a news reporter," Cyrus revealed as one of the men began to pat down first Spencer and then Emily. "Is there anything that you want to tell me? About a raid, maybe?"

Emily's heart flew to her throat as she looked into the absolutely hard, stony eyes of the so-called prophet.

* * *

Blood pounded in Spencer's ears as he looked at Cyrus and then Nancy for an explanation.

Seeing the confusion written across all of their faces, Cyrus deduced the truth. "They don't know."

But they could all here the police outside now. Via his limited view through a window, Spencer caught sight of what he knew were only a few of the numbers that had to swarming the premises. Clad fully in protective, bulletproof gear with their guns drawn, they were suddenly all over the place. Whether or not this raid had anything to do with the three "child victim interview experts" wouldn't matter now. It was no wonder that Benjamin Cyrus was mad.

And then they were all suddenly being herded down into a tunnel that ran under the school and led to who knew where. But with guns at their backs, it wasn't like they had much of a choice but to accompany the people making their way downward. As it was, they were powerless. The best that he could do was keep a hand on Emily's back as they descended the staircase, his small way of telling her that he would do whatever it took to get her out of this increasingly awful situation.

"What's going on?" Nancy hissed from behind Spencer.

"I don't know; just stay calm."

Not such an easy task to actually do when you were in a dimly lit, claustrophobia inducing tunnel with the knowledge that there was a pervert and his brainwashed followers who were carrying guns and probably weren't afraid to use them. Spencer took a deep breath and bit back his panic. He had to stay strong so that he could get his wife out of here unharmed.

Spencer pursed his lips when Cyrus began spouting instructions and religious propaganda in the same breath.

"Where did these guns come from?" Emily breathed.

Spencer said the only thing that he'd been able to say – the words that he hated. "I don't know," adding, "Garcia checked with the state police."

Quiet panic reigned in the tunnel as Cyrus and a few of his head goons tried to organize and sooth people while gunfire echoed clearly from above ground. As for Nancy, Spencer and Emily, they were left off to the side, practically forgotten and seemingly unimportant. Noticing that she unsurprisingly appeared to be getting a little overwhelmed, Spencer silently clasped Emily's hand and then angled his back to shield their arms from view.

"This is ridiculous," Nancy turned to Emily and seethed.

"It's okay," Emily whispered, repeating Spencer's earlier instructions, "Just calm down."

Cyrus said one more time before he left the tunnel that God would protect them, but by the amount of gunfire that Spencer heard, he was having a very hard time believing the words of the pedophile.

And it just kept getting better.

It was weird when Jessica Evanson revealed that she was married to the so-called prophet. It was bad when the police started a raid while they were on the property. It was worse when Cyrus revealed that Nancy Lunde had been killed by a cop's bullet.

But, so far as Spencer was concerned, the worst was yet to come.

* * *

Aaron Hotchner had never felt quite like this in his life. There wasn't a word to define this awful feeling of knowing just how far off you've misjudged the way that a situation was going to turn out. His team had done their jobs and done them well. They had done all the research that they possibly could before deciding to send a couple of agent in. They had ascertained from supposedly trustworthy sources that this was going to be a safe, easy, in-and-out mission.

So he had sent Prentiss and Reid in together - a husband and wife duo, however under the wraps their marriage might be - hoping that maybe they could resolve whatever seemed to be going on as an undercurrent between them. Maybe if nothing else, he thought, they could've talked it out on the way to Colorado and then back to Quantico.

But now he, Rossi, Morgan, and JJ had to worry about just getting them home at all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains what could be perceived as spoilers for 5x09, "100."

Hotch was doing the right thing. He knew he was doing the right thing by sending Dave in as the hostage negotiator. That was the one thing that he knew was the right choice to make by Prentiss and Reid right now. Yeah, Dave had picked up on the slight change in the demeanor of the two agents around one another, so he would handle it carefully, yet he didn't have the knowledge of just how "unique" of a "situation" they were dealing with here.

Yeah, he told Dave, he knew how bad this was, but Hotch was counting on the fact that Dave didn't entirely have that knowledge. Dave really didn't know how bad it was. Truth be told, neither man could really understand what exactly was probably going through the minds of Prentiss and Reid, knowing that the one person that they loved more than anyone in the world was being held at the hands of Cyrus along with them.

For a split second, Hotch allowed himself to picture Haley's heart-shaped face, to entertain the idea of what he might feel if he knew that she was in a life or death situation like this, being held by a man who wasn't afraid to kill her. He almost shuddered. He didn't know what he would feel; he couldn't even begin to imagine it. For that, he was glad. He didn't need his own imagination conjuring up even more emotions right now; the ones that he already had were far too close to the surface as it was.

That night was one of the longest nights of his life, and he'd had plenty long nights of which to speak. The next morning when Dave was getting ready to go in and meet Cyrus face to face, he was hardly feeling any better than he had the night before. The longer that Prentiss and Reid were in there, the more of a chance there was of any one of their secrets being found out. He could hardly bear the thought of it. If something happened to one of them – God forbid in front of the other – or let alone to both of them, then he knew already that he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

He almost collapsed with relief when Dave returned with the news that Prentiss and Reid were unharmed. At least for now.

* * *

If there was one thing that had been good about this situation so far, Spencer could consent that it was the fact that he and Emily had gone virtually unnoticed. One of Cyrus' right hand men had kept watch over them in the tunnel during the night and hadn't questioned it when, since no one had thought to give them blankets, Emily had curled into Spencer to sleep. Emily had slept fitfully at best, and he had slept even less then her, keeping watch over his wife because he didn't trust the look in the eyes of the man with the gun. At least when she was in his arms, he felt that he could insure her a small measure of safety.

But then morning had come and their captor had led them into the chapel. They had needed to become nothing but coworkers once again. They had been seated by the wall, the only two in a row of chairs. Until Rossi had come in, Emily had been leaning her head on his shoulder, emotionally and physically tired, and simply seeking what little comfort the small physical contact could give her. Maybe even doing that was pushing it – Spencer didn't know, but at this point he didn't care. Sometimes it was easiest to avoid detection when you were in a room full of people like the chapel was now. He draped his arm across the back of Emily's chair, not daring to pull her close like he so wanted to. Besides, he knew that it wouldn't be long and Emily would stop letting her wall down even this little bit and would slide entirely back into her hard knocks FBI persona. And that's what had happened when Rossi had entered the building.

When Rossi left again, all Spencer wanted to do was grab Emily and make a run for it right behind him, but he didn't. He couldn't . No matter how hard it was, he couldn't think of just Emily, he had to think of all of the innocent people still in the grip of Benjamin Cyrus. So he stayed.

But, oh, how he wished that he hadn't. How he wished he had followed his gut instinctsl grabbed his wife, and just fled. But he hadn't.

And the state of affairs was about to hit worst.

After the disturbing meeting in the chapel, Spencer and Emily were left back in the tunnel, and since the door only opened from the outside they were left there alone. Two blissful minutes passed with only the two of them, and in that time, Spencer told her he loved her and kissed Emily like he might never get the chance again. Truth be told, he might not.

Hearing footsteps approaching the entrance to the tunnel, they sprang apart, both landing in a seated position on boxes on opposite sides of the narrow tunnel. Spencer kept his expression neutral and looked at his hands. Emily combed her fingers through her hair. Both of them looked up as Benjamin Cyrus walked in followed by one of his armed men.

"Which one of you is it?" Cyrus asked, already glaring at Spencer. The genius's heart jumped to his throat as Cyrus pulled a gun from his belt and repeated, "Which one of you is the FBI agent?"

Emily could only gape as a moment of silence passed before Spencer managed to ask, glancing at Emily, "Why do you think one of us is a FBI agent?"

Cyrus cocked the gun and both Spencer's and Emily's eyes widened as the "prophet" said, "God will forgive me for what I must do."

He pointed the gun at Spencer's head, as Spencer insisted, "I'm not – I don't know what you're talking about."

"One of you dies," Cyrus declared, even his monotone coming across as chilling. "Who is it?"

And that's when Spencer heard the most awful word come off of his wife's lips, "Me."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for season two episodes 14 and 15, "The Big Game" and "Revelations."

Tobias Henkel.

Emily knew that if she made it out of this alive, she was going to have to tell Spencer why she had confessed to being the FBI agent, and she could only hope that he understood when she did. She could still remember – far too vividly, she could remember – standing around with the rest of the team in Georgia and watching those videos of Spencer being tortured and even dying. Far too easily, she could still feel the horror that had surrounded her – had surrounded all of the team, she supposed – as they saw what was being done to him.

She couldn't… she just couldn't go through that again. She knew that Spencer would've taken the bullet for her; she was very well aware of that, but she just couldn't stand the thought of it. Where her motives selfish? Maybe, in a way, yes; at least this way, though, she knew that Spencer – her husband – was safe, at least for now.

* * *

Spencer's eyes slid past Cyrus to Emily as she repeated, "It's me."

 _What? You're not supposed to_ admit  _that! What did you just do to yourself? I would've protected you!_

Emily looked at him and then dropped her gaze as she saw all these thoughts flying through his almost accusatory gaze.

_Why didn't you let me protect you, Emily?!_

Cyrus turned his gaze towards Spencer's bride, his eyes and posture oozing a deadly brand of condescension. Both Spencer and Emily looked up at Cyrus, trying to appear calm while both of them wanted nothing more than to take their spouse and run for the exit. Not that they would get very far with the armed goon blocking their only route for escape.

So they both sat there, the air taut with tension as they waited to see what Cyrus had in mind for Emily. Would he kill her outright, like he had been ready to do to Spencer?

Spencer swallowed.  _Oh God, please no. If you kill my wife, you freaking psychopath, I swear on a stack of your perverted version of the Bibles that I will-_

And suddenly Cyrus lashed out, grabbing a fistful of Emily's dark brown hair. She grunted and gasped in pain as Cyrus pulled her into a walk-in closet in the side of the tunnel. It took everything in Spencer not to run at the man and kill him for the simple fun of doing so, despite the gun that Cole – the goon – kept trained on him. It didn't particularly matter to him if he died. If something happened to Emily at the hands of that man when Spencer himself was right there, he would die anyway; he might as well save Emily.

He looked at her in pain and horror as she was being drug away and almost, almost said something to try and stop it. Maybe there was a chance that one of the rambles for which he was so well known amongst the team might do the trick. Of course there was a chance that it would get him killed too, but so what? He didn't care if it meant that he could save his wife.

But then she looked at him, really truly looked at him. It was the sort of look that meant  _I'm sorry_. It was the sort of look that said  _I had to; I love you,_ and  _please try to understand_. But first and foremost the look that she shot him meant  _don't you dare do anything to get yourself hurt._

Spencer slammed his mouth shut and looked away  
towards Cole and his gun. He had to, or else he was going to say or do something that he would later regret. But, just for the record, his wife was a d*** hypocrite.

Spencer flinched as the door banged shut behind Emily and Cyrus. He couldn't even bring himself to look at the closed door. Staring down the barrel of Cole's gun was a better option at the moment. Although he wished it would, the sight didn't help to block out any one of even the smallest sounds that were coming from the closet.

"I told you not to put me in this position!" he heard Cyrus seethe.

The distinctive sound of a slap – what Spencer knew was only to be the first of many – was almost his undoing. He clenched his fists at his sides, and for one split second figured up the odds of his being capable of wrestling that gun away from Cole. They weren't good, and if he didn't die trying it, he knew that Emily would kill him when she found out.

So Spencer stayed absolutely still, staring down the barrel of a gun with his eyes glazed over as he listened to the excruciating sounds of Benjamin Cyrus beating his wife and died a little more at each blow that he heard.

* * *

_God, no!_

Aaron Hotchner almost ripped the headphones off. He almost threw them across the tent. But he didn't. He couldn't. Reactions like that came from Morgan, and if they came from the unit leader, they would be suspect. The team would be clued into the fact that something more was going on, and right now that was the last thing that his team needed to find out. So he kept the headphones on his hears and kept listening.

The first real, complete thought that crossed his mind, though, wasn't for Prentiss, oddly enough, but for Reid. The poor young man had to be in as much pain as his wife right now, if not more, for that matter. Though he had truly been listening for only a second, it was that thought that made Hotch take the headphones off, determined to do something to stop this.

Reading his mind, Dave reminded him, "We'd be risking the lives of everyone in there."

Not wanting to have to consider that fact but knowing that he had to keep it in mind all the same, Hotch put his headphones back on. When he heard glass shatter, Hotch leaned against the tabletop, fighting tears that had suddenly sprung into his eyes.

He wasn't just listening to Emily's beating necessarily; he was also listening for a noise in the background, something to indicate that Reid had had enough, gotten stupid, tried to intervene in what Cyrus was doing, and thus gotten himself hurt as well. But he heard nothing of that nature. Reid must have realized the same thing that everyone on the outside had come to the conclusion of. No matter how much he hated the fact, right now, there was nothing that anyone could do to help Emily.

 


	12. Chapter 12

Standing across from the other man who sat at his desk in what he had been told was the prophet's office; Spencer still didn't trust himself not to kill Benjamin Cyrus for doing what he had to Emily. Last night after the beating had occurred, he had heard Cyrus order Cole to "tie her up and take her upstairs" which meant that she was still alive, but even someone who wasn't a genius could figure out that she had to be in mortal amounts of pain. In Spencer's book, for inflicting that pain on his wife, Benjamin Cyrus deserved to die. He watched in barely veiled disgust as Cyrus cleaned a small crack in his knuckle and blew on it before asking, "Did you know that she was FBI?"

There was a pause that was almost too long while Spencer worked both to make up a proper answer and to keep from saying the real thoughts that were on the tip of his tongue, and then he answered, looking mostly at Cole still for fear of what he might let slip if he looked at Cyrus, "Nancy told me that the woman was a child abuse interview expert from Denver. Four years I'd worked with her, Nancy had never lied to me before."

"As far as you know," Cyrus added before going into his own spiel. "Their law says a fifteen year old girl is a child. Fifty years ago, that same law said a fourteen year old was an adult. Have children changed so much in fifty years?"

"I can't tell you the number of times I've investigated abuse charges in small, religious groups; almost all of them turn out to be false."

"What do you think of that?"

"It doesn't really matter what I think."

"It does to me."

"Why?"

"Because God wants to save you; I mean that's why He sent you here, that's the reason."

Cole nodded in agreement when Cyrus looked at him.

Okay, fine. Maybe he could play into their game a little, gain some ground here. But that didn't mean that he didn't still want to kill the monster.

Spencer swallowed before diverting their attention by saying, "On the next call, you should… test them. Test the negotiator. Make him prove that he isn't lying."

"How would you suggest I do that?"

"Ask for the identity of the FBI agent."

"We already know her identity," Cole broke in.

"They don't know that," Cyrus countered.

Cole argued, "Yeah, but the FBI would never tell us."

"They keep on asking you to release people; well, tell them you'll release a kid and you won't harm the agent, and if they really care about the children, they'll have to tell you."

_And maybe you'll actually keep your word and not hurt Emily!_

Cole's backlash was instantaneous. "You're trying to get us to release a child!"

"It's one kid! If they don't hold up on their end of the deal then you know they can't be trusted!"

He looked to Cyrus for support and the man in charge backed him up by saying, "He has a point." A pause as he looked at his right hand man and then, "What is it, Christopher?"

The other man looked at the floor as he answered hesitantly, "Some have been talking about… leaving."

"Leaving?" Cyrus repeated.

Cole – apparently a nickname for "Christopher – nodded, before receiving Cyrus' orders to "wake the baby."

"Let's let them meet the orphan that they've made."

With the girl safely received outside by the authorities, Spencer wasn't entirely ready for the sight that met him at the chapel because of the conversation that had occurred between himself and the other two men, but at the same time, it was the only thing that he wanted to see. As soon as he saw Emily on the other side and to the back of the chapel, he went quickly over to stand beside her, slowing as he took in the extent of her injuries. Never before in his life had he wanted so badly to just hold her and soothe away her hurts.

"He looks p***ed," Emily breathed, glancing at him and then back up at Cyrus. Feeling his gaze still on her battered face, she looked up at him and tried to reassure him that "it's not as bad as it looks."

Tears nearly choked his voice as said, "I'm so sorry."

The look that filled her eyes told him that there was no need for any apologies, and just as quickly she turned the conversation back to the matter at hand. What was going on with her? Was she just in that much pain? What was going on in her head that she wasn't telling him? Whatever it was, she obviously wasn't going to tell him right now, so he might as well go along with what she was wanting and concentrate on the job.

"I'll get word to the team; wait for a sign from outside to indicate what time the raid will come."

And then he forced himself to walk away from her, to go back to his new "buddy," Cyrus.

Seeing the unasked question in his eyes, Spencer lied to him, saying, "I told her that she shouldn't have lied to you like that."

"To both of us."

Cyrus turned away to order one of his goons to "take her back," so he didn't see the look that passed through Spencer's eyes at that remark, but both men saw the pained look in Emily's eyes. Spencer was pretty sure that he had never felt pain such as he was feeling at that moment.

* * *

She hadn't told him. On so many levels, for so many reasons, she hadn't been  _able_  to tell him. The thought had occurred to her after Kathy had left her, once she was lying alone in the darkness with nothing but her already tortured thoughts. Only then did she think of the life that was growing inside of her, the life that only she could protect. The life that she had probably killed yesterday with the stunt that she had pulled by revealing her identity to Cyrus. She thought of Kathy again, the mother who was willing to risk it all – even her own life, if that was what it came to – in order to save her only child.

But as for herself… Emily was pretty sure that she was a worse mother then even her own mother had ever been. The thought made her sick. Moving roughly onto her side, Emily threw up onto the floor.

Enough was enough. She had to be able to do something to get herself, Spencer, and her baby out of this place. A little more maneuvering to get readjusted onto her back and she was able to lift the blind with the heel of her boot.

She began to speak, hoping with her whole being that someone would hear her as she repeated over and over, "If you can hear me, I know you're coming. I can try to get the women and children down to the tunnel, but I need to know when you're coming."

Of course, she wouldn't be able to do any of this on her own, but she was almost entirely certain that she could get Kathy to help her, if only she could find out the time that the raid was to take place.

And then there was suddenly a laser light shining on the opposite wall. A few well-placed blinks and movements of said light and she knew that she had to be ready by three a.m.


	13. Chapter 13

Spencer stared down at the food container with writing written across it in Hotch's handwriting. Three a.m. They were going to come at three a.m. He tried not to jump when Cyrus dropped another food container on top of the one that he had been reading and then he looked up at the other man.

"I know what you're thinking," Cyrus told him. "You don't have to be a part of this; you can go."

No way. No way in h*** was he leaving Emily here with Cyrus and his armed and brainwashed monkeys.

"I think I'd prefer to stay. Somebody needs to tell your story."

"Then I'm glad it'll be you. Now that the false believers have been cleared from our midst, we make our final preparation."

Spencer could only watch in terror as Cyrus began unloading dozens of sticks of dynamite from crates.

* * *

Emily had to find a way to get the women and children out of this place before the raid. Even if she had killed her own child, she had to know that she had saved someone else's children. That was going to be the only knowledge that helped her survive if her own baby had died here in this place.

That was the thought that Emily had on her mind when Kathy reappeared, bringing her a glass of water.

"Cyrus is planning a mass suicide," Emily informed her, cutting straight to the chase. " _You_ made that 911 call."

Kathy looked guiltily away and then screwed her eyes shut before answering, "This is all my fault; none of this would've happened if I hadn't made that call."

"You were trying to protect your daughter," Emily insisted.

"There were other girls before Jessie," Kathy revealed. "He would marry them in secret, and after awhile he'd take another, and we weren't permitted to speak of it. And so when she asked for my consent, I wanted to just take her and run, but I was afraid she wouldn't leave him."

Emily's heart filled with compassion for this poor woman, this other mother, because in her own way, Emily could now relate to that desperate sort of love.

"You wanted us to take her."

"Well, I, I wanted to save her from Cyrus."

Certainly she did. Emily could completely understand that. What mother didn't want to save her child from Cyrus. Maybe… maybe she could get out of here before it was too late to save her own baby…

"I can give you another chance," Emily assured her with a smile. "The FBI is coming here at three a.m. I need you to gather Jessica," Kathy was already shaking her head and standing, but Emily continued a sense of urgency coming into her tone, "the kids, the other women; get them into the basement just before three a.m."

Kathy turned back around to face her, asking, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I have faith that you are a strong enough woman to do the right thing for Jessica."

Emily didn't let the thought register as she shoved it roughly out of her mind;  _One of us has to do the right thing by our children._

Kathy walked out without giving Emily an answer, thus leaving her alone to wonder whether or not she had made the right decision.

* * *

Hotch stared out across the land at the compound as Dave approached him from behind.

"I know I can't go in there," he said, although the fact ate at him.

"I'm going," Dave offered.

"If something happens to Prentiss or Reid, I don't…" he shook his head. "I don't know."

Dave bit his lip for a moment, admitting, "You're not alone."

But, as he looked back across at The Liberty Ranch, he realized that he was alone in a way. Out of those who were on the outside, he was the only one who knew just how high the stakes were, just how much it could kill one of those two agents if the other didn't make it out of this. He couldn't let that happen. And yet… he couldn't go in there.

* * *

"You were right," Kathy flung herself into the room and helped Emily to her feet before untying the rope that had kept her hands bound behind her back. "They're setting the place to blow up."

"Where is the man I came in with?" Emily asked urgently, concerned for her husband that she hadn't seen in around nineteen hours.

"Uh, he's in the chapel with Cyrus. It's two forty-five, though; we gotta hurry."

She couldn't leave Spencer in here to blow up, Emily knew that, but she also couldn't bear the thought of putting her baby in danger one more time – if that baby was even still alive inside of her. But she couldn't take that chance. If the baby had survived Cyrus' brutality, she had to keep it alive through this too.

So she went with Kathy without another word.

* * *

Spencer was starting to get antsy. Not just antsy, but nervous, scared even, the closer it got to three.

And that was before he heard Cole tell Cyrus, "Something's wrong."

Cyrus opened the chapel door about an inch and saw that the vehicles were gathering outside. "They lied to us," he deduced.

"Should we do it now?" one of his men asked him.

Cyrus' expression held an undercurrent of fury beneath his confusion as he answered, "No… let them get closer."

Then he picked up a loaded gun and the dynamite's trigger box and went outside.

"Cyrus, what are you doing?" Cole asked him.

"Making sure the press is watching;" With that, he fired into the air. "They're gonna wanna see this. This is it;" he said, eyeing the yellow box in his other hand, I'm on my faith."

Spencer had to fight to keep from starting to tremble. Where was Emily? Where in the name of all that was good and holy was his wife? He could only hope that she could find a way out of here, even if he didn't.

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

"Come on, come on," Emily quietly led numerous women and children down corridor after corridor until they had reached their tunnel destination.

She had never been more grateful to see Morgan's face as she was when she entered that tunnel.

"Emily, Emily," he asked, "Are you alright?"

No, she wasn't alright. She couldn't help her husband and her baby might be dead inside of her. All she told him was that "They've wired explosives."

"Where's Reid?" Morgan asked.

"He's in the chapel with Cyrus."

Rossi declared, "We've got to get you out of here."

The hysteria that had caught Emily so off guard in West Bune, Texas, was back again with a vengeance that she didn't even notice as she insisted with tears in her eyes, "No, we've got to get Reid!"

"Prentiss, I will get Reid," Morgan insisted. "Get out of here, get to safety. Go now."

So she went, taking a terrified Kathy with her and Rossi. Once again for the safety of the unborn baby that she could only hope was still alive, she ran to safety.

* * *

Spencer could officially say that he was panicking. He had to – had to – believe that Emily had been gotten to safety. In his mind, there was no other option for her, but as for himself, he could practically feel the anticipation of death seeping into the chapel. He stood behind Cole, trying his best not to let it show how very much he was panicking as he quoted to Cyrus' right hand man every even half-way fitting verse that he could remember. "Jeremiah 29:11: 'I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to bring you hope and a future.' Is blowing yourself up part of the prosperous future that God wants?"

But his Bible quoting apparently ticked Cyrus off, because the already tense man came over and pointed his gun at Spencer, asking, "You think you know the Word better than I?"

"No, no, I'm just demonstrating that you can use the Bible to manipulate anything."

"Matthew 10:24," Cyrus shot back, "Do not suppose that I have come to the earth to bring peace; I did not come to bring peace but a sword.'"

And so saying, he rammed into Spencer's midsection, slamming him against the wall. Spencer almost doubled over, but he forced himself to keep standing. If Emily could take it then he could and would too.

"You cannot convert my brothers," Cyrus declared.

Spencer barely refrained from calling him out as the psychopath that he was. Cyrus hit him one more time in the stomach, and despite his best intentions, Spencer fell to the floor with a gasp. He looked up at Cyrus, just waiting for the man to do to him what he had done to Emily. But he didn't.

Instead, Cyrus twirled the dynamite's trigger around in his hand, saying, "No one had to follow; God could've stopped me."

And it was then that gunshots started coming from one of the side entrances. A sheriff's deputy shot Cole, and right behind him was Morgan who sent a bullet straight into Cyrus' heart, then two, and a third as he fell to the ground.

"He just did," Spencer declared, catching his breath as he stumbled onto his feet.

Morgan asked, "Are you alright, Kid?"

"Fine; where's Emily?"

"We got her out of here." Then Jessica Evanson slowly entered the room, looking at her so-called husband's body crumpled on the floor. "Sweetheart," Morgan demanded her attention, saying, "Come with me; we need to get you out of here. Come on, let's go right now."

But Jessica didn't listen to him; instead she stared at Cyrus then at the dynamite's trigger beside his body. She leaned forward to pick up the yellow box as Spencer started running toward the exit, dragging Morgan along with him.

"Run!" Spencer yelled.

* * *

Emily registered the explosion, but she didn't think to stop moving quite yet.

Once she was at a safe distance away, she turned back towards the buildings aflame, calling out weakly, "Reid! Morgan! Reid… Morgan…"

She didn't notice Hotch freeze behind her then take a step forward to comfort her, in the moment before she made out the shapes of Spencer and Morgan as they emerged from the smoke, coughing.

"We're okay," Morgan called out.

"Oh gosh!" she whispered, her hands coming up to cover her face.

She stumbled forward to meet them, still not noticing that their unit chief's eyes were suddenly glowing with relief.

"I think all the kids are out," Hotch said.

Rossi asked, "Where's Jessie?"

But truthfully, Emily didn't care. She thought of nothing else but her husband as they wrapped their arms around one another and she buried her face in his shoulder and finally let herself cry out all the spent emotions from the past three days. They were both safe. They were both going to be okay. That was all that mattered. Except for the baby – the baby certainly mattered – but Emily knew that she wouldn't have been able to live if Spencer hadn't made it out alive. But he had.

Thank God, they were all okay. It was going to be okay now.

* * *

Spencer had never needed anything else in his life as much as he needed to hold Emily just then, and this time he let himself do just that; he didn't care who saw it or what they thought. He needed to be able to touch his wife, to ascertain for himself that she was really and truly okay despite the nightmare that they had been through. Maybe that nightmare wasn't even quite over yet, he thought, as he released his death grip on Emily only to notice Kathy Evanson's lost expression.

Emily left his side to go talk to her, to try to help heal the hurting heart of a mother who had lost her only child to the monster that was Benjamin Cyrus. At first, Emily could only shake her head, and then Ms. Evanson's keening scream split through the smoky air.

Spencer turned his gaze to where JJ was in the crowd, scanning through Cyrus' followers. Realizing that Jessica wasn't among them, and what that meant, JJ started heading towards Ms. Evanson. As a general rule, the most emotional people were taken care of by the motherly liaison, and she assumed that this time would be no different.

But Spencer saw JJ stop when she realized that Emily was still with Ms. Evanson, embracing her now as tears flowed freely between the both of them. He took a few steps closer, looking at his wife. Something was wrong. The feeling that he had gotten at the chapel about her hiding something from him was back with a vengeance.

Emily wasn't just crying, she was grieving right along with Ms. Evanson, as if she understood her pain – or even had that pain as her own.

But how could that be?

 


	15. Chapter 15

After a minute, a few of Kathy's friends from among Benjamin Cyrus' followers came over and surrounded her, offering their comfort to her. Left at the edge of the circle of the few women, Emily suddenly felt like an intruder.

Spencer drifted over to her. Placing a gentle hand on her forearm, he brought her back to the present as he reminded her in a low voice, "You need to get checked out by a medic, sweetheart."

The endearment caught her off guard since they were in public and Spencer generally didn't use pet names anyway. She looked up at him in surprise, seeing… something… behind his eyes as she looked at him through the smoky, flame-lit night. Not being able to tell whatever it was that he was thinking and her own swirling emotions combined to make her lift a fingertip to her lips and started biting her nail.

Spencer captured that hand in his and pulled her a few paces away towards the edge of the crowd.

He leaned over until his forehead was touching hers and asked in a whisper made husky by either emotions or smoke or a combination of both and asked her tenderly, "Emily, what's going on? What is it that you're not telling me?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steal herself for telling him the truth, but it didn't work. A single tear slipped silently down her bruised cheek.

For all the words that she tried to force past the lump in her throat, the only three that made it were a whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" he murmured in loving confusion, brushing away the tear before it could fall to the ground.

"For – For – Spencer, I killed your baby!" she choked out before a ragged sob broke loose from the very depths of her soul.

He became absolutely still, breathing an almost inaudible, "What?"

Staring at the ground because she found herself unable to look at him directly, she forced herself to calm down, to hold off crying long enough to explain in a pained whisper, "I was about eight weeks pregnant. And then after Cyrus… after he… how… I just don't think… I didn't think!"

And she began to sob once again.

"Emily…" He pulled her close, knowing that she needed comfort, even while she knew that he was still processing her words and then the implications of them. "Oh, Emily, you  _were_ pregnant."

His voice cracked and she felt him bury his face in her hair.

After a moment of fighting for his composure, he asked her, "Did you lose the baby when I wasn't with you today? Yesterday?"

She looked up at him in confusion for a moment before realizing what he meant. She shook her head.

"That hasn't happened yet."

His brows knit together as he asked, "Then how do you know that the baby's gone?"

"Spencer…" she whispered, knowing all too well the thread of hope that was winding itself around his heart. "After what Cyrus did, there's just no way…"

"But, Emily," he contradicted her, hope lighting up his eyes where tears had been only a moment ago. "Where did he hit you? He targeted your head. Did he even kick you at all?"

She had to think hard – the whole episode had all been one long blur of pain – but then she realized, "Only once, really; he kept telling me to get up instead."

"Then surely there's still a chance…" He turned and tugged her towards the medics. "We have to find someone who can find out."

"What? Here? But what if the team sees something that clues them in to… us?"

"Then so what!" Spencer declared recklessly. "I married you, I love you, I love our baby, and I really, honestly don't care who knows it right now. Now, come on!"

He tugged on her hand again and this time she didn't resist him.

Spencer marched up to one of the paramedics on the scene, half dragging her behind him as he asked urgently, "Do you have ultrasound equipment here? Or even just a fetal Doppler?"

The paramedic nodded. "Sure, we've got a Doppler. Why?"

"Would you mind using it to check our…" Spencer looked over his shoulder at Emily, a smile playing at the corners of his lips as he said the word, "Baby?"

"Sure." The paramedic shrugged, and then he realized who they were and what the question was that they really needed an answer to. "Oh, of course, over here."

He led them over to an ambulance and then climbed into the vehicle before speaking in hushed, somber tones to the female medic who was already in the ambulance. A couple of nods between them later and he helped Emily up into the back of the vehicle before disappearing and leaving them with the blonde medic. Spencer climbed up and took his place in the crowded space.

"Alright, Agent Prentiss, you just lay on your back here on the stretcher. Have you been to see an OB/GYN yet for the pregnancy?"

Emily shook her head, fighting the butterflies in her stomach that were making her nauseous. "I had an appointment with a doctor scheduled for yesterday back in DC, but…"

"You were a little preoccupied huh?" the medic asked with a small laugh.

As though what she had just been through was funny. As if within the next two minutes, Emily and Spencer weren't going to find out whether or not their child was still breathing.

"Yeah," Emily agreed lamely.

She nervously curled and uncurled the fingers of her hand that was hanging limply off of the stretcher until Spencer grabbed her hand and held on tight. The medic put the Doppler to Emily's abdomen and began to move it slowly around. Three pairs of ears strained to hear a heartbeat break through the static. The cacophony outside the ambulance faded away until Emily's world became nothing but the sound of static filling her ears.

Seconds ticked by like days, but the static never morphed into a heartbeat. Emily felt her last fledgling thread of hope drift off on the gentle smoke-laced breeze. She tried to speak around her tears, tried to tell the medic that it was okay to stop searching for the sound now.

And that's when they heard it.

Faint, but very real and amazingly steady, they heard the baby's heartbeat.

 


	16. Chapter 16

As of late, Aaron Hotchner was getting very familiar with what it was to feel like he was a heel, but even he wasn't sure what to do with what he was pretty sure he was seeing before his very eyes. Because it looked to him like a medic was doing a prenatal ultrasound on Emily. Emily was pregnant. He had kept his team and the others under his command from doing anything about it when the pregnant woman – or at least one of the pregnant women – on his team was being  _beaten_ by a psychopath.

If she had lost that baby, it would be blood on his hands – innocent blood – and that wasn't the type of blood that he was sure he could handle having on his conscience.

He swallowed, taking a step closer to the ambulance so that he could survey the scene closer.

Prentiss was lying on the stretcher, gripping Reid's hand like it was a lifeline. He was kneeling on the floor beside the stretcher, his face buried in her hair while she was burrowed into his shoulder. The way Hotch saw it, that didn't look good. Not good at all.

A sickening feeling seeped into his stomach as he watched. But then… then the paramedic grinned. Both Prentiss and Reid lifted their heads and slow smile stole over Reid's face. Prentiss screamed with excitement before slapping a hand over her mouth. Hotch took a deep breath as he started breathing again, knowing that Prentiss and Reid had just been spared a great loss. With reactions like that, the baby that he wasn't even supposed to know about had to be alive still.

Hotch allowed a smile to tug at the corners of his lips as he went on his way, knowing that neither of his agents had seen him.

* * *

Spencer felt Emily's presence as she stepped out from the kitchenette and glanced quickly around at the other members of their team on the jet before she slid into the seat opposite him as they finally started their flight home back to Washington, D.C.

"Hey," she smiled as he looked up from his book.

He whispered the same greeting in response, his voice suddenly stolen away as he once again registered the deep purple bruising to her face. He should've at least tried to stop it. In so many more ways than one she was his partner and his responsibility on that case, and he should have at least tried to do something for her. But he hadn't.

He went back to his book, trying to force the disturbing thoughts out of his mind once more. Emily rolled her eyes and leaned forward, gently lowering the book onto the tabletop, taking his hands into her own.

To look into her eyes, he saw that she knew what he was thinking, and she repeated, "Hey," before expounding seriously, "I need you to listen to me. What Cyrus did to me is not your fault." He glanced at a speck on the tabletop and swallowed his pain as she continued, "It was my decision, and I would do it again."

_But only because you now know that you wouldn't lose the baby!_

She sounded close to tears as she asked, "Do you hear me?"

He looked away from her, a half smile tugging at his lips. She nodded and took that as what it was: the best answer that she was going to get from him on the subject.

"Thank you."

And then they both knew that was it; the subject was now closed. It was something to go in their closet of unpleasant memories – something like how a couple might choose to treat a lovers' quarrel – and it wasn't to be brought up again. Her eyes slid to their hands, still laced together on the tabletop, and his darted from that same place, towards the window, and back again. Emily sat back with a smile, and he picked his book back up, grinning a little as well. And then he glanced back up at her and she almost laughed as it zinged between the two of them again. Their relationship – their secret – that they had successfully kept from all but one person on this jet for nearly six months.

She leaned her head back against the headrest and just looked at him. Feeling her stare, he glanced back up at her, and he saw in her eyes the same thought that was in his head. It was time. This case had been the final straw. It was time to tell the team the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

* * *

Once they were back at Quantico, gathering their things to go home, Emily waited until the whole team was in the bullpen – including Garcia – before she said loudly enough so that everyone could hear, "All right, guys, for all the trouble that Reid and I have caused these past few days, I think you all deserve a round of drinks at my place."

"Aw, it's been no trouble, you know that," Morgan assured her, and the others quickly backed him up.

"Yeah, well, you're still coming." Emily cut to the chase, giving them a half-truth. "I've got something that I want to talk to you all about."

"Something wrong, Emily?" Rossi asked.

"No; just come." She swept them all with a pleading look. "Can't you all just oblige a wounded woman?"

"All right," Morgan agreed, speaking for the team, and then he said for his own benefit, "You don't have to twist my arm to hang out with me, Princess." Emily shot him a grateful look until he added, gesturing to what his T-shirt kept covered. "If you wanted some of this, all you had to do was ask."

"Yeah, right," Emily snorted.

Hotch couldn't help but add, "Save it for Garcia or get yourself in trouble."

"In trouble?" Morgan asked in confusion. "With who?"

"You'll see," Spencer said with a smirk, making his way towards the exit behind Emily and Hotch.

Rossi wandered up to Morgan and said in a confidential tone, "If you want my opinion, I have a feeling that ' _Princess_ ' has become someone's  _queen_. And, just for the record, Hotch knows about it."

"Whose queen?" Morgan asked in surprise. "When does that woman ever make time for anything outside of work?"

Rossi looked up at him as if that was the entire point, musing "When indeed."

The BAU's Italian Stallion nodded towards Emily, and Morgan looked just in time to see Reid hold the door open for her with a joking, sweeping bow.

Morgan whirled towards Rossi in happy shock. "Naw! No way!"

"You'll see," Rossi said with raised eyebrows. "I've just got a feeling about this one."

"You aren't the only one," JJ informed the two men under her breath as she came to stand beside them.

"What do you mean?" Rossi asked her.

"I may not be a profiler," JJ said. "But I am a pregnant lady. You know the deal – overly active hormones, underactive appetite, and a stomach that can't handle anything. Have you guys been paying any attention to Emily this past month? Because I am not the only one exhibiting those symptoms."

Seeing the twin shell-shocked looks on the guys' faces, JJ could only shake her head, and ask their resident tech analyst, "Garcia, can you believe these guys?"

Garcia  _tsk-tsk_ ed as she came up beside them, saying, "The only advice that I have for you two is that you've got to start paying attention to jewelry; it can be a major hint on some things."

"Like?" Morgan asked.

" _Like_  that necklace that Emily had been wearing has a wedding ring on the end of it!" Garcia sighed. "Oh, D, it is a good thing that you have that marvelously sculpted body of yours."

With twin cackles, JJ and Garcia started towards the door with go-bags and case files, leaving the guys there with equally stunned expressions.

"Come on, guys; aren't you coming?" JJ asked, looking back at them with a teasing smile.

"Yeah, we've got to go put on our 'surprised' faces for Emily and Reid!" Garcia seconded. "Chop chop, let's get a move on!"

* * *

"They weren't surprised in the least," Spencer declared as he shut the door behind the exit of his and Emily's final guest later that night.

"I know!" Emily went around picking up wine glasses as she asked, "What do you think tipped them off?"

Spencer shrugged. "With them, who knows? They're profilers; it's their job to notice behavior – and behavioral changes. Any little thing could have tipped them off."

"Funny, huh?" Emily snorted.

"What is?"

"How we've been trying so hard for so long to keep our relationship a secret, and then we find out that they knew about it all along."

"Yeah… like I said, it's always the little things that make the difference."

"And the little people," Emily mused quietly.

"I'm not following," Spencer confessed.

Emily took the wine glasses into the kitchen and Spencer followed her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close as they stood by the sink.

"Well, think about it," she explained. "Owen Savage – a man who only crossed out paths once – was behind the reason that we started dating. It was a court official whose name I don't even remember who married us. We both know that other unsubs that we've come across have helped to make us the people that we are today – Cyrus, Henkel, Philip Dowde. And then," Emily laid a hand on her still-flat mid-section. "And then there's this little guy."

Yeah, Spencer, we are who we are, but it's those among us that bring us together, that help to make us who we are. Without those people – the people we meet once in our lives, the people we work with every day, and all of the people in between – our story wouldn't be what it is." She shrugged. "That's all I meant."

Spencer smiled, joking, "And to think that I thought that JJ was kidding when she said to watch out for you waxing philosophical!"

Emily laughed, slapping him playfully on the arm. "I love you too!"

"I do love you," Spencer murmured, dipping his head down to kiss her. "I love you very much."


End file.
